Black and White in Red
by AlyCat3
Summary: Blackbeard makes a surprise visit to Storybrooke to make sure Hook holds up his deal in giving up the Jolly Roger. As if that weren't enough, he's come to collect at an awfully inconvenient time. Set after season four but before six.
1. Adventures Ahoy

"Henry, are you sure this is a good idea?" Violet asked again as she watched him casually hop aboard a pirate ship. Admittedly it was his mother's boyfriends, but a pirates nonetheless.

"Violet, it's our anniversary, and I promised you an adventure. Now come on, we won't do anything Killian will spill his rum over."

She giggled like he was hoping, and he held out his hand to assist her on board.

The sharp smell of salt blasted into their faces, somehow even stronger now that the wood of the deck creaked below them. Everything looked the same as the last time he'd been here, right down to the lines tied off and the rigging as highly polished as it could be. Heart pounding painfully in his chest, he turned slightly to still catch a glimpse of the awe on her face. In the whole time they'd been together he'd yet been able to get her really alone, and with his Mom and Killian out in the woods all day looking for something the Dwarfs claimed to have lost, this should be perfect. His other Mom was setting up some town meeting about the latest reason no one should cross the town line, and his grandparents were following Neal around like their lives depended on it now that his Uncle was learning how to walk. There was absolutely nothing that should interrupt this moment.

Just as her shoulders started to relax and and she stepped closer to him with a welcoming smile, she just as quickly let out a wild gasp of surprise and tried to jump away from him, pulling his hand with her. Not fast enough, he felt the point digging right into his ribcage from behind while a hand snagged painfully underneath his chin, securing him into one spot.

"And just what are you two doing aboard my ship?"

Violet released his hand and stumbled even farther back, right over a barrel and collapsing to the ground, her skirt splayed around her still blowing as heavily as her hair. Mouth still half open as if prepared to scream any second once her shock wore off.

Henry felt immediate anger flaring bright at not only watching his girlfriend fall without a chance to catch her, but the words themselves being hissed into his ear. He snapped so viciously he was sure he'd be released from his biting words alone, "I don't know who you think you are, but this isn't your ship!"

Even Henry could claim no real right to it except Killian referring to him as his first mate more often than not. Whoever this person thought they were, they'd be in for a rude awakening if they pushed that blade just one more centimeter into him.

"Well you're wrong there lad," the hot breath panted against his neck, Henry's nose wanting to curl away in protest from the stench. "I've rightfully won the Jolly Roger from old Hook, and I'm here to collect. Whatever lies that scoundrels told you otherwise I'll just have to," there was that last centimeter, and Henry couldn't help the hiss of pain as he felt a dribble of blood start down his back when the blade finally broke skin, "change perspectives."

"Violet, run," he shot at her, using ever last bit of his will to launch himself as far away as he could and still be a distraction. Violet headed him, already on her feet and sprinting to the docks practically before he'd moved. It hadn't been enough, he'd only half torn himself free before his arm was caught in a vice like grip and he was yanked back into this stinking pirates face. He only got a quick glance, far more than he'd have ever wanted, of the weather beaten skin and yellowed teeth before the blade still having a dribble of his blood on it now rested on his breast bone.

"You never did answer me laddie, just who are you to be aboard a pirates ship? Hook back into the business of procuring first mates in a more hands on way? Or, hand on I should say," he stopped and laughed at his own wit, while Henry's bit back the anger rising once more. He'd seen the look Killian gave others when they dared to joke about such a thing, and years ago he could easily imagine the wayward pirate running people through for it. Henry suddenly had that desire now, he wouldn't let anyone mock his family.

"Doesn't matter I suppose," he continues when an answer had been refused. The blade breaking through his shirt and now pressed against his skin, Henry had no choice to but to back up into the mast or be run through as the pirate advanced on him. "Everything aboard this ship belongs to me, and that includes you now."

* * *

Hope you enjoyed! I've never written for this fandom before, but I recently binged the whole series and while there's plenty I'd have liked to say throughout, this moment really caught my attention. Blackbeard never did make good on his promise to get this ship back, and I'd be loath to admit how eager I was to see this play out. Now, as usual, I'm doing it myself! How did Blackbeard get there? Ah, that's for me to know and you to find out, along with much more fun to come.


	2. All For One

"Come on luv, we've been at this for hours."

"Never took you as one for a quieter," Emma shot over her shoulder without looking. The sharp, cold metal caught around her wrist and turned her around much like it had that first day they'd met, but now she looked up to Killian's smile open and warm, the teasing light in his eyes the far cry from the indecisive man she'd met in that pile of bodies.

"Now you know better than anyone I love a challenge," he reminds her with that challenging smile that had never failed to catch her eye. "All I'm saying is it wouldn't hurt to take a break." The tone and his eyes glancing down even further her body made it clear what kind of break he had in mind.

She reached her hand up and brushed the hair right above his ear, her hand lingering down to trace along his cheek, before she pulled away from him completely, and he let both hand and hook fall away with only the slightest bit of disappointment. "Come on Killian, the faster we reach the trailhead and find what took Sleepy's axe, the faster we can go get lunch, and ah, have that break."

"What would a dwarf known for sleep even be doing so far out into the woods?" Killian requested even as he hiked along beside her now.

"You are asking the wrong girl on that," she burst out laughing. "But I'm sure, despite the name, he's-"

She stopped in surprise and reached inside her pocket for her phone, while Killian went on ahead, sure it was simply Snow again going on about some word she was sure Emma's toddler of a brother had spoken today or something.

"He what?!" The sharp sounds of distress in her voice had his hand automatically reaching for his sword even as he spun on the spot to face her and see what danger had creeped in. "I'm on my way!" she kept on in the same breath, and before the question could even begin to form what had happened, she'd grabbed hold of him. With a puff of white smoke, the two were suddenly standing in Regina's office before she'd even put the phone back into its cradle. "Where is he?"

"Ask your pirate!" It was moments when Regina seethed and flashed him that look that he recalled with the most ease how she'd earned the title of Evil Queen.

"What have I done now? What's going on?" The panicked look Emma shot him and the way Regina's glare only intensified led him to believe he'd much more recently led someone to the gallows than what was true.

In short, sharp words that made it clear she was restraining from strangling him by the very tips of her fingers, Regina burst out, "the Charming's just called, with Violet at their door panicking about a pirate aboard your ship, holding a sword to Henry!"

Panic was the first thing to crash over him, larger than any wave he'd ever faced. He'd cared for Henry like he would a kid brother, and it was slowly turning into more the closer he grew to Emma. His hook sunk into the edge of Regina's desk in protest, he was suddenly leaning over it right into her face with a cold black fury unrestrained in his voice. A tone that once would have sent any sane man feeling from his sight. "What are you on about?"

"Exactly what I said! I just poofed over there to check it out and your ship is not where you left it! So where is it, where is my son!"

"Our son," Emma corrected at once, her arms crossing over her chest, and between the three of them it was a small miracle every glass surface hadn't shattered from the tension building in the room.

Only one cur came to mind fool enough to cross him, but how had he traveled to this land to do so? Taking in a slow, careful breath, he turned only to face Emma, addressing her as calmly as he could. "I can assure you Swan, I have many enemies, but none that I would have hidden from you if they were in this land. I've no more idea what corpse we're soon to be dealing with."

She nodded once, accepting this while panic seemed to arise in her even more he had no clear answer. She turned back to Regina and the two quickly agreed to do a search of the town to see if anyone knew of any new-comers. He didn't listen to a word, lost in a swarm of past memories and still only one face flashing about on who he'd soon be sinking his hook into. He hadn't realized the conversation around him had ended until Emma's hand slipped back into his, and he only had a moment to catch her eyes before he was blinking about down at the docks.

"Come on, it'll be faster if we split up," and just like that her long blond hair was whipping out of sight, she didn't even take the time to pull it into a long tail.

Heading her, he went the other direction, his eyes keeping sharp for even he didn't know what. Something, someone out of place, anyone who could spot where Henry or his ship had last been.

Time had always been a curious thing to him. His hundred years spent in Neverland truly had felt like a lifetime, but a torturous one, always knowing the next moment and just waiting patiently for it to take him to that bloody crocodile. Things had changed when he met Emma, he'd finally no longer known what was coming. Finally time was back in some semblance of a working order in his life, and he never knew what was next. This morning had dragged on, but his evening flew past so fast he couldn't recall every person he stopped, every ship he inspected, every speck of wood he scraped his hook across desperate for it to reveal some clue of what had happened to the lad.

"Hey, err, Hook, right?" He spun on the spot, hook indeed at the ready to find an unfamiliar lass cautiously approaching him. His unease lingered, as he'd recognized if not known the name of every person he'd spoken too today, this area of the town quite honestly the part he knew best. She didn't look to be much of a seafarer though, as out of place down here as he would be at the helm of Swan's car. Dressed in an emerald velvet gown, with fine, delicate features that all came to sharp points, a long braid down to the heel of her boots. Quite lovely, under other circumstances, almost resembling an elf he'd seen depictions of.

She must have come over in the last curse, he decided, not yet accustomed to this world. She carried herself with confidence even as she continued a cautious and weary approach as if knowing a rabid dog to be near.

"Aey," he finally agreed. Her eyes were distracting, constantly flickering in colors in the fading sunlight.

"I, ah, heard people were down here looking for the Savior's son, and I wanted to help. I'm Jane, by the way." She held a slight accent he knew not, and his thoughts this was some princess waiting to be swept away seemed more likely by the moment. There was a time he would have lavished at the idea of such a woman, her orbs brimming with the color of the sea one moment, and then to the exact shade of Emma's the next which was somehow even more distracting.

"Well, have you seen anything?" He finally asked, hating how his voice cracked, more from surprise than anything he told himself. Such a vision deserved at least that.

Her smile was delightful, though it held no real warmth. He felt a shiver crawl up his spine as she stepped towards him, offering her hand. "From up there," she gestured with the other hand to a lighthouse not too far down the coast. "I saw something off in the distance. Didn't seem odd to me at the time a ship that large was around, you know how things are around here." Her laugh was like a soft sea breeze, with the hint of a storm on the horizon.

His own hand was now twitching for his blade far more than her delicate fingers, but this didn't seem to deter her. She simply dropped her hand and beckoned him instead, leading the way.

She didn't seem like a siren, and he'd had his fair share of dealing with those. There was no enthrallment, he could just as easily walk away from this lass. The one idea very clear in his mind was to call Emma, but he was loath to drag her away on some fools errand if this didn't pan out to be anything more.

He disliked the idea even more of being up somewhere so high and isolated with this unknown person, but he steeled himself that he would face any danger this is. What if Henry were up there and his ship missing was all a ruse? So he followed, fighting off every sense telling him not too.

The trek was uneventful, and they reached the top without any fanfare. Nothing lunged out and attacked him, no powerful magic brought him too his knees. Nor was Henry, or anything of note here at the top except the woman now leaning casually against the rails. His hand now resting on his sword openly and still waiting for the anchor to drop, he stepped cautiously to her side and let his eyes scan the horizon, and yes, there in the far off distance he could indeed make out a ship quite large, certainly the Jolly Rogers portions. He wished he had his spyglass on him, but alas he'd left it aboard the ship herself this morning.

"Thank you," he said, dragging his eyes away from looking for some sign of recognition back down to her. She hadn't changed position, her expression as serene as the calm waters below.

"Oh, you're quite welcome," it came out almost as a pur as she looked at him through her lashes, her eyes now almost the same shade of brown as Henry's.

He took one cautious step back, then the other, and still nothing happened. She turned back away without a care, humming some tune to herself he didn't recognize. Without waiting any longer he pulled his phone out and sprinted back down to the docks for a boat to pillage, already telling Emma where to meet him.

* * *

For the record, though I don't usually do this, I actually do have an actor in mind of who Jane is. Evangeline Lilly, because come on, we all know this show needed another Lost cameo. That's all the knowledge you're going to get until the next chapter though.


	3. Blackbeard's Revenge

"Damn Gold to the deepest pits of hell," Emma seethed.

"Emma?" He called from the steering for a bit more of an explanation, not that he really disagreed with that statement at any given time.

"Remember that barrier he put up to keep Bell on and no one else getting on or off? Well apparently he never really took it down, I can't just poof us up there."

His relife at seeing the old girl floating along as natural as could be in these waters was not long to live, not when both of them were now quite sure Henry was being held there against his will. He was sure even if Regina had come along, rather than trying to follow down another lead with the Merry Men out in the forest, Rumplestilskins magic would still always be a problem in their life.

"Then we'll just have to get up there another way luv," he told her with confidence, abandoning the helm of their pilfered ship.

They'd spotted no one in the crows nest, nor anyone upon their closer inspection of the ship. From their angle it hadn't even been clear if there was anyone steering. Pulling them as close as he could he reached out and tentativly rapped his hook against the prow of his ship, and there seemed no repercussions. Giving her as reassuring a smile as he could, he turned about until they were just beneath the loading bay, the thin uneven divuts dug out of the side of his ship as close to makeshift handholds as they'd be using to getting aboard.

"What on Earth?" She asked in confusion even as she began lifting herself up without one look back, not with the notion her son could be above.

"These are a story for another time luv," he promised.* He was already following, this being no more of a struggle than the beanstalk. If anything, under other circumstances, the trip would have been a bit more pleasant.

Instead, night had now fallen, and the worry he could no longer temper back was thrusting harder than any wind he'd ever had to sail through. Henry had been alone far too long in certainly no good company. They had to get him back.

"Henry!" She'd hauled herself over the side with more practice than any landlubber really had a right too, yet another reason he'd fallen so madly in love with her was how easily she adapted to everything. She'd called her sons name not in question though, but in recognition, and knowing it wouldn't be that easy, he too swung himself on board with his sword drawn in the same breath, prepared for battle.

It was as he'd feared, the madman responsible for this. Blackbeard remained on the starboard railing, a look of deep hatred lighting his eyes as Henry remained all limbs tied up at his feet, a gag in his mouth. A flourishing bruise was lingering on the side of his face and there was the smallest pool of blood under his side, but his eyes were open and alert as he watched them approach.

"Hook," he acknowledged first, always one to enjoy his posturing as long as he could. "I knew you'd try to go back on our deal. I haven't yet decided what to take as collateral, your life, or his."

"I'm not here for the ship," I scowled, my blade keeping aim right at his heart. "She's yours, as promised. I'd have delivered her myself if I knew how to cross realms. Just let the lad go and we'll be on our way." The words would never be able to leave his mouth without the traitors taint for his beloved first real home, but he'd never spoken truer words with his family in danger.

Blackbeard threw back his head with laughter, the point of his blade remaining lodged near Henry's neck. "A man unwilling to fight for what he wants deserves what he gets." Killian swore his heart stopped in his chest, as if the man had reached in and pulled it out to crush it already. No, he would not loose these two, not with the crocodiles words echoed back to him like that! "I'll gladly leave, this little town holds no interest for me."

The blade dug deeper, the rustic red upon its surface from countless other victims still shiny anew with Henry's blood, the coppery taste in his own mouth fueling him to take a forceful step forward. "Then what else do you want?"

Emma's hands were raised, prepared to do anything she could in her magical ability to save her son's life, but with the risk of his head being removed before she could twitch a pinky, she was as forced to stave herself as he was.

"Oh, nothing you could give me any longer Hook. Unless you're wanting to play another round for this lovely lass your with? I can almost see why you gave up this vessel for such a treasure," his leering eyes landing on her in the worst way nearly had him launching forward in outrage, but Emma had never been one to stand idly by and let others handle her.

"How did you get to this realm, and more importantly, how do we send you back?" It was hard to believe the same gentle loving tone she'd used to wish Henry a good day this morning came from the same woman now delivering a death sentence to the man across from them. Ah Emma, always quick on the uptake.

"Now look who's asking the right questions," Blackbeard agreed, that disgusting face of his hitching into an even more reactive glint in his eyes even as he continued raking her bodice from so far away. Killian still had half a mind to step in front of her no matter how little good it would do anyone. "Alas, it's not something you can be of any use for, I'm awaiting someone far more useful in company. Tally along, the both of you, before I change my mind."

"We're not leaving without Henry," the confidence in her voice was not to be argued with by even the darkest of foes.

"I found him aboard me ship when I reclaimed it, makes him mine just as these woods below our feet," Blackbeard snarled. Killian saw something from the corner of his eye, a flash of movement that he would have liked to dismiss as a sail in the breeze, but his attention focused solely on Henry left him with no desire to even check his back for threats. Emma however...he finally glanced over his shoulder and felt his heart seize at the velvet green dress flapping, her long braid catching each gust of wind and never quite seeming to settle down. Her eyes were now the deepest black of the sea around them.

"About time you showed up," Blackbeard addressed her at the same time. "Let's get on with this then, while I've got my first three new crewman where I want them."

Jane gave him that same beatific smile she'd given Killian earlier, one that promised no good was coming of this, and before their eyes a door appeared quite literally out of nowhere beneath their problems. Blackbeard only had time to look down in surprise before the handle turned, and he fell through with a curse of surprise. It slammed shut and was gone again before Henry even had time to register he was no longer being pinned down.

* * *

*I'd originally intended to indeed implement a backstory and flashbacks of why he'd do that to his ship, but I couldn't hammer out the details in time, and then a particular episode in season five ruined it anyways. Still, the idea Hook has more than just his gangplank to get onto his ship lingered, so I kept those there even without backstory.


	4. Not Really Blackbeard's Revenge

"Henry!" Emma gasped in relief, already rushing to her sons side and beginning to untie him. Killian lowered his sword, but for the life of himself couldn't bring himself to sheath it in her presence. Still, he felt at least the gentlemen in him saying, "thank you, again." He swallowed, glanced over at Henry being helped to his feet by his mother and assuring her he was alright, before asking as politely as he was capable of, "now would you mind telling me who you really are?"

No magic came without a price, and certainly no help from such a clearly powerful being would either.

That smile stretched, wider and wider until it seemed to take up half her face, and then it seemed her face truly did split in half. The right side still the angelic figure, the left almost painful to look at in it's ghastly horror of a creature with mottled black and green skin. For one horrifying moment it was as if looking upon Emma and the Crocodiles face ungodly sown into one being, and then he blinked and there stood before him the pretty lass who had done nothing but help, smiling delightedly upon them all.

"I am Janus, the god of beginnings and doorways, choices and endings. I've heard so much of the Savior, I just had to see one of her marvelous decisions in person. That wasn't nearly as much fun as I thought it would be though, I really thought Blackbeard would incite more of a choice than her just waiting for the right moment. Let's try another."

It all shaped together in his head what exactly had passed from those lush lips of hers just as she raised both of her hands, and he was flying. Ropes from his own ship were suddenly lashed upon his throat, and by the time he was no longer moving without permission and instead being dangled above the water, he could see across from him that Henry was in the same predicament.

"What are you doing?!" Swan demanded, launching to her feet, but at a loss of who to turn to first with the three before her. "Let them go!"

"Oh I could," this god agreed with that same lighthearted way of speaking, as if discussing what the weather would be like tomorrow. "But when I do, a door will open beneath each of them, and even I'm not always sure where they lead. So you have a choice to make Emma Swan. I'll release one of them back to you. The other," she let out a little noise close to a sigh of sorrow, as if she genuinely regretted what she was doing. Yet even through the ringing of his ears from his air passageway being restricted he detected the hint of joy she still carried, clearly trying to suppress she was having the time of her life.

"Or option three, you put them both back down here with me, and I don't kill you," Swan vowed, flexing her hands but never moving farther from Henry's rope being dangled right in front of her.

"Swan, what are you doing?" I shouted down to her as properly as I could, my hook using every bit of its power to stop this thing from leaving me a hung man. "Take Henry and get out of here." She had to know he'd get himself out of this somehow, no matter where he was sent. He was a survivor, as promised, and no realm he was left too would change that.

This Janus seemed delighted by everything around her, no longer able to contain a school girls chuckle with her hand caught in the cookie jar by someone she knows won't punish her.

"I suppose you could. You're magic is quite powerful, even more than you've yet realized. But not everything is so black and white Savior, and one day you might just have to choose, and that third option won't be so obvious."

In his vision blurring and blackness beginning to cloud in around the edges, he wasn't quite sure if that flash of white light was Emma's magic finally pulsing from her, or the bright light of a door appearing out of nowhere that Janus slipped through. Either way, he was unconscious before he hit the water.

Thankfully it was that same substance that awoke him, and he spit the salty sea out in surprise. Shaking his wet hair free from his eyes, he made quick work of diving underneath his ship, strong assured strokes having him on the other side and seeking out the form of Henry in these dark waters. Panic gripping him tighter than any lack of oxygen ever could upon finding nothing, he forced his head free of the water for as quick a breath as it was possible before preparing himself to lung right back in when he heard, "Killian? Hook? Come on Henry, I got you, we'll find him."

Looking up, he saw Emma dragging her son over the edge of the ship but still looking all around and calling out to him desperately. Deciding to keep her attention on Henry as long as she could was best, he instead swam back to the makeshift ladder in his ship and find his own way up. He reached the deck, shivering slightly and dripping wet but never more pleased to see the two of them as they kept glancing over the side for him.

"Did you really think a bit of water would best me?" He couldn't help but challenge such faith.

"Killian," she breathed in relief, keeping one tight hand on Henry's shoulder even as she tried to run forward and embrace him at the same time.

He stepped forward readily while keeping his own eye on Henry, who spat a bit more water out of his mouth before grinning up at him. "I mean, can you blame us? For a pirate, you do get nearly drowned an awful lot."

His scowl wasn't nearly as fierce as he'd like it to be in his relief to see no permanent damage to the boy.

* * *

I suppose there was no real point to this fic in the end except some foreshadowing of future plot points, and my massive disappointment we didn't get to see more of this shows take on the Olympian gods. Yes Janus is usually depicted as a two-faced male, but I had some fun and liberties with that idea just like the show is so fond of. Hope you enjoyed anyways!


End file.
